The Army of the Bravest Men

The Army of the Bravest Men (Japanese: 最も勇敢男性の陸軍, Mottomo yūkan dansei no rikugun) is a legend of Japanese history that was written at some point during the 18th or 19th centuries. The legend was written in the form of four novellas, each of them documenting a fictitious rebellion by surviving Toyotomi peasants against the Tokugawa Shogunate following the Osaka Campaign in 1615. Similar to Robin Hood and his Merry Men, the "Army of the Bravest Men" of Sadakata Kira emerged victorious in several battles with the Tokugawa armies, and a final battle near Osaka saw the Toyotomi forces slay Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa and rout his army after a hard-fought battle in which many of the protagonists died.

The Survival at Osaka (大阪でのサバイバル)
The story begins in the summer of 1615 as Ieyasu Tokugawa's Tokugawa army heads to crush the rebellion of Hideyori Toyotomi in Osaka Castle. Hideyori assembles an army of Toyotomi loyalists and masterless, brave warriors to fight against the Tokugawa Shogunate in a final attempt to restore Toyotomi rule to Japan. Sadakata Kira, then just a footsoldier with the Toyotomi, distinguishes himself in the fight against Ieyasu, nearly killing the shogun himself in some fierce melee. However, Ieyasu is able to escape, the only man from his bodyguard unit to make it out of the battle alive. The Osaka Campaign sees the Toyotomi fight to the death as the Tokugawa launch fierce assaults against the castle, with Hideyori being slain. However, the Tokugawa suffer even higher losses and are forced to withdraw. Only a few dozen Toyotomi loyalists are left alive, with a tired and distraught Sadakata being among the few remaining survivors. Sadakata has recurring nightmares about the moment that Ieyasu fled, and he laments his inability to prevent his lord Hideyori from being killed as well as his inability to slay Ieyasu as he fled from the battlefield. The morning after the Tokugawa army's withdrawal, Sadakata decides to take command of the remaining Toyotomi loyalists, who are unsure of what to do next; the Tokugawa would likely return to the castle with another large army. Sadakata gives an inspiring speech, in which he states, "We should rather die than hazard giving in to the vicious Ieyasu. The heads of the Toyotomi may be severed, but its arms and legs are still kicking. Our banners still fly; should they be planted in heaven or on Earth depends on us." His speech rallies the disheartened Toyotomi troops, and they head into the lowlands to gather support for a war against Ieyasu.

The Rebellion against the Shogunate (幕府に対する反乱)
The next chapter picks up approximately a month later. By now, the rebel force has grown to 690 troops, including Toyotomi sympathizers who were encouraged by the pyrrhic Toyotomi victory at Osaka and finally decided to take up arms; other warriors are bandits and ronin. The Toyotomi army has mostly robbed rice convoys and redistributed the rice to the peasants and their army of bandits, and it has stumbled upon a few Tokugawa outposts and slain many soldiers. In response, Ieyasu sends his magistrate Ujinori Abe

Toyotomi

 * Sadakata Kira - The main protagonist of the story. Kira was a brave warrior who had fought in the Imjin War in Korea under Hideyoshi Toyotomi and returned to Japan to serve his clan loyally. Following the Osaka Campaign, Sadakata rallies the last few survivors of the Tokugawa assault to fight against Ieyasu Tokugawa's shogunate forces and free Japan of the cruel Tokugawa clan's clutches.
 * Narihira Wakiya - The deuteragonist of the story. Narihira is the loyal second-in-command of Sadakata who is one of the survivors of the Osaka Campaign that same year, and he leads his samurai warriors in a guerrilla war against the Tokugawa.

Tokugawa

 * Ieyasu Tokugawa - The main antagonist of the story. A real-life figure, Ieyasu historically had been named "Shogun" in 1603 and founded the Tokugawa Shogunate after defeating the Toyotomi at the Battle of Sekigahara. The point of divergence is the Osaka Campaign of 1615; historically, Ieyasu crushed the Toyotomi forces and brought Japan under the peaceful rule of the Tokugawa. However, the story presents Ieyasu as an evil man who rules as a tyrant, and he is responsible for usurping the shogunate of Japan.
 * Tokugawa Hidetada - The secondary antagonist of the story and the second Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Hidetada is Ieyasu's son, and he seeks to continue his father's legacy by leading the shogunate forces against the rebels. Hidetada is killed in the Encounter at Kyoto at the end of the story after arriving at the city with just his escorts in a vain attempt to regain his family's honor.